Roadkill Nation: The Mangled Mobilities of Animals and Automobiles in Modern America

This project examines how Americans have thought about and dealt with the problem of animal-automobile collisions in the 20th and 21st centuries. By examining the work of hunters, conservationists, wildlife biologists, animal rights activists, veterinarians, automobile boosters, state departments of game and wildlife, state departments of transportation, and road and urban planners, we can come to a greater understanding of the historical and contemporary relationships between humans and non-human animals in the age of mass-mobility. The project analyzes the collisions between various forms of mass-mobility (trains, cars, plains, ships and recreational water craft) and animal mobility (cattle, deer, Canada Geese, Right Whale, Florida Manatee, dogs and humans) in hybrid environments (tracks, roads, airports, shipping lanes, and canals). This interdisciplinary project contributes to scholarship in environmental history, the history of science, animal studies, and mobility studies.